Deja Vu

Well, the refs were at it again in tonight's Bulls game. This time their stupidity lead to a loss against a struggling Orlando Magic team. The Bulls were losing by two points with about 1:30 left when Orlando's Nelson pulls a fast one on the refs by stopping suddenly, sticking out his backside, and allowing Hinrich, who anticipated Nelson curling around the screen, to slam right into him. Because the ball hadn't been inbounded yet, the Magic got one shot and the ball back. Now, they are up by three. Next play, Nelson fools the refs yet again, this time by leaving his feet for a shot and leaning into Hinrich. He initiated the contact, not Hinrich, but, of course, he's on the line shooting two and putting the Magic up by five. On the inbound play, it should have been an offensive foul, because Hinrich has as much right to that spot on the court as Nelson does, plus Nelson was the one who purposely stuck out his rump, drawing the contact. On the jump shot, there should have been a no-call, considering that Hinrich stood there with his arms up. The shot rimmed out, by the way.

Regardless, the refs get worse on a nightly basis. They make it difficult for me to sit through an entire game, because they are just that bad. I mean, the average age of the three refs they had out there tonight must have been pushing 90 and that's being generous. For God's sake, hasn't Dick Vebetta qualified for retirement yet? Isn't there an age where refs are forced to hang 'em up? If not, there should be. These guys just can't keep up with the fast pace of the NBA

That said, I'm introducing what I call "The Missed Call Counter." I am going to keep tabs on all the bad calls or calls which the refs neglect to make, and I'm doing it for both teams, not just the Bulls. With every blog I write, I'll make a note of my calculations for that night. This should be interesting.

Nonetheless, how long is it going to take for a change to be made? Everyone knows that the league is suffering because of this. It makes me laugh when Scott Skiles is stating his case to the ref and the ref actually has the nerve to argue back when thousands of people in the stands and on TV can see just how bad of a call it was.

But let's be fair. The Bulls were out rebounded tonight by 16. That's pathetic. Sometimes I don't know what's worse, the refs or the mental lapses this team displays night in and night out. Case in point, the Bulls made a strong run in the fourth quarter, taking the lead by four points. They force a missed shot, Gordon grabbed the rebound and took it down the court for a fast break. Instead of making the smart pass to Deng on the wing, he tries to force a lob to Sweetney which is broken up and leads to a three-point play by Ariza on the other end. What should have been a six or seven point advantage rapidly dwindled to just one. Unbelievable. For as good as Gordon can be, he, along with Hinrich and others, makes the stupidest choices at times. The excuse of this being a young team can only hold validity for so long. Back to the drawing board.